Cusco

Cusco is the capital of the Cusco Region and Cuzco Province and was the capital of the Inca Empire.. It is in Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountains and has an elevation is around 3,400 m (11,200 ft). According to Inca legend, the city was built by Sapa Inca Pachacuti, the man who transformed the Kingdom of Cuzco from a sleepy city-state into the vast empire. The first Spaniards arrived in the city in 1534 and proceed to many Inca buildings, temples and palaces after subjugating the Inca empire. They used the stones from the Inca building to build their city but kept the Inca bases and foundations intact. It is ironic that earthquakes have destroyed large portions of the Spanish constructed city over the years, but the Inca made structures remain undamaged.

During our visit we toured the Convent of Santo Domingo and the Monastery of Santo Domingo. One oddity of Peru and the Catholic religion there is Convents were for priests and Monasteries were for nuns. Everywhere else it is the other way around. The Convent of Santo Domingo was built at the site of the Inca enclosure of the sun. According to Spanish documents over 700 gold and silver sheets were looted from just this one site. Remember that gold and silver had no value to the Inca people other than it use in religion. The large central courtyard was covered in sand from the ocean to represent the birth of the Inca people. At the back of the building overlooking what is now a small park which was originally a garden which once held the king’s garden which had gold and silver plants and animals, there is a room that contained a large (about 2 to 3 feet in dia) gold mirror that was used to channel the sunlight into the temple for rituals. It is said that a Spanish officer lost it in a game of dice in one game. Many of the stone walls still exist and survived, without a scratch, the recent earthquakes that leveled most of the Spanish buildings. Except one section that is slightly separated. This was due to a secret tunnel that stretched 4 blocks to connected the convent with the monastery. There was a big scandal about the priests and nuns forsaking their chastity vows at the time, but the church hushed it up. We also visited one room that was used as an observatory which was built of gold and inserted in a window. While to gold is gone the window with the holes to mount the gold fixtures remain. One reason the Inca walls were so resistant to earthquakes was all the walls had a slight tilt to them. Also the top corner stone was shaped as an L or T to tie the walls together and at every stone junction there was slight bump in the bottom or top stone so it could not slide side to side. Finally when appropriate they would use metal crossbars and pins to hold the stone in place. The Inca divided everything into 2, upper and lower. politically that was the king and his blood relations, and everyone else.

Monastery of Santo Domingo (which was for nuns). It was build on the site of the Aqllawasi or the Inca house of the chosen maidens. The Incas would chose the most beautiful maidens from villages across the empire and bring them here to be educated and trained in Inca law and court policy. They had a strict vow of chastity in the order, except when chosen by the king to be his concubine. This was a honor and the maidens were revered by the Inca people. Even when they were retired from the court and returned to their home villages they were revered and well cared for. When the Spanish took Cusco they saw the similarity with the nuns of the church so kept the order intact (except for the concubine part) and taught them catholic religion. About 20 nuns still reside in the monastery. The 1st negotiation between the Spaniard Pizarro and saw one of the King’s surviving wives give her daughter to Pizarro to maintain her wealth and station. She also helped Pizarro when the Inca's rebelled against his rule by bring in other indigenous tribes in to help the Spanish, insuring the rebellion failed.

The Cathedral of Cusco was built to install awe of the Peruvians, but an earthquake delayed the opening for 5 years. The original wooden high altar could not be used due to damage, so they hid it behind a false wall and built another of silver plated nickel. Ironically in 1960 after another earthquake the original altar was discovered and was a superb masterpiece. They had another version of a painting of the last supper with guinea pig, a round table, and Pizarro features on Judas who was the only apostle who had native coloration. Due to the expense of moving large paintings from Europe to Peru, Peruvians were taught to paint and sculpture in Spanish style. However reflection of the native religion pop up everywhere in churches and art. For example the Madonna's in their gowns are all triangular shaped, which represent the Peruvian mountain goddesses. The wooden choir seats have the saints above them, but the arm rests all have pregnant woman on them, which represent the earth gods of fertility. In this way the Spanish were unable to completely destroy the native religion. People were not praying to the Madonna, but to the mountain goddesses. Also there are more altars to Mary celebrating the immaculate conception (in broad gowns) than Jesus. Where they praying to Mary or to their goddesses? Other gods in Peruvian native religion is the snake which represents wisdom, the silver crescent which represents the moon goddess, the sun which represents the sun god, the rainbow which represents agriculture.

While in Cusco we visited a local food market which we found amazing with a huge selection of plants and meats. For example there were sacks of over 300 variety of potatoes, more than I have ever seen in my life. There were many different kinds of corn and peppers for sale as well as quart sacks of coca leaves for 1 sol each. Although the meat on open air display all day was not how I am used to seeing it.